Loch Goil; ( gd, Loch Goil) is a small

sea loch ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is cognate with the Manx lough, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh words for lake, llwch. In English English and Hiberno-English, the anglicised spelling ...

forming part of the coast of the

Cowal Cowal ( gd, Còmhghall) is a peninsula in Argyll and Bute, in the west of Scotland, that extends into the Firth of Clyde. The northern part of the peninsula is covered by the Argyll Forest Park managed by Forestry and Land Scotland. The Arrochar ...

peninsula in

Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute ( sco, Argyll an Buit; gd, Earra-Ghàidheal agus Bòd, ) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod (14 July 202 ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

. The sea loch is entirely within the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. It is an arm of

Loch Long Loch Long is a body of water in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The Sea Loch extends from the Firth of Clyde at its southwestern end. It measures approximately in length, with a width of between . The loch also has an arm, Loch Goil, on its weste ...

. The village of

Lochgoilhead Lochgoilhead ( gd, Ceann Loch Goibhle, IPA: �kʰʲaun̴̪ˈɫ̪ɔxˈkɤilə is a village on the Cowal peninsula, in Argyll and Bute, Scottish Highlands. It is located within the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park and is widely consider ...

stands at its head. Located in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, Lochgoilhead sits at the head of Loch Goil, a fjord type sea loch. Only an hour from the

Erskine Bridge The Erskine Bridge is a multi span cable-stayed box girder bridge spanning the River Clyde in west central Scotland. The bridge connects West Dunbartonshire with Renfrewshire and can be used by all types of motor vehicles, cyclists and pedestrian ...

Glasgow Airport Glasgow Airport, also known as Glasgow International Airport (), formerly ''Abbotsinch Airport'', is an international airport in Scotland. It is located in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Paisley, Renfrewshire, west of Glasgow city centre. In 2019, the ai ...

the M8 and Glasgow. The village is accessed from the

Rest & Be Thankful The A83 is a major road in the south of Argyll and Bute, Scotland, running from Tarbet, Argyll, Tarbet, on the western shore of Loch Lomond, where it splits from the A82 road, A82, to Campbeltown at the southern end of the Kintyre peninsula. Ro ...

pass by way of a single-track road. The area is surrounded by hills and mountains, with loch views, and a range of accommodation, leisure activities and entertainment.

Carrick Castle Carrick Castle is a 14th-century tower house on the west shore of Loch Goil on the Cowal peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is located between Cuilmuich and Carrick, south of Lochgoilhead. The castle stands on a rocky peninsula, and w ...

lies on the west shore 4 miles (6.4 km) south of

. The landscape at Loch Goil shows its remoteness and Highland grandeur with the

Arrochar Alps The Arrochar Alps are a group of mountains located around the head of Loch Long, Loch Fyne, and Loch Goil, near the villages of Arrochar and Lochgoilhead, on the Cowal Peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The mountains are especially popular w ...

surrounding with conifers in the Highlands of Scotland. It is used for exercises by Trident submarines from

HMNB Clyde His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde; also HMS ''Neptune''), primarily sited at Faslane on the Gare Loch, is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth). ...

at Faslane. In 2014 Loch Goil was declared a Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area (NCMPA).

Fisheries

Several Scottish Sea Fishing shore records are attributed to the Loch:

References

External links

Map showing Loch Goyll (Loch Goil), circa 1600
National Library of Scotland
HMNB Clyde - website
Goil Goil Cowal Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas of Scotland {{Argyll-geo-stub